Wednesday, January 21, 2009

There are not one, not two, but three whole articles linked on Nola.com that discuss Obama's website rhetoric on Katrina.

But the President isn't saying anything different about Katrina and New Orleans on whitehouse.gov today than he's said throughout his campaign and throughout the transition.

There isn't going to be any special immediate direct intervention here in New Orleans.

Not unless we start organizing to get it, not unless we loudly demand it.

For the rest of the week I'm going to continue to look into the brewing Charity/LSU/VA controversy as well as on going efforts to get funding for New Orleans from the economic stimulus plan under construction on Capital Hill.

Update: The Times-Picayune takes a deep breath and clears the record with all the whitehouse.gov stuff, definitely after reading my blog.

The statement, however, is not some new initiative. In fact, it's a carryover of Obama's campaign. With the exception of the honorifics, it is word for word what appeared on change.gov, the Web site of the Obama-Biden transition team, which was itself taken verbatim from what appeared on www.barackobama.com, Obama's campaign Web site.

It wasn't just nola.com that went bonkers over the Katrina section of the new whitehouse.gov, a lot of bloggers got very excited also. But again, no new news on Obama's position on Katrina. No news at all.

1 comment:

Of all the words you will find in one of those word'cloud thingies on Obama's Inaugural Speech, one missing is the very one that I had hoped for but not expected. Indeed I would have seen it righteous for our new President to mention New Orleans, but I honestly did not expect that. But the one that stunned me was "Levees".Obama at least said the word Levees, and with it referred to the Flood, and its deeper stronger current of New Orleans. I mean really, he could have gotten away with saying nothing of the sort... but that would have been wrong and we might have been the only ones to take note of it as a "wrong". But... he didn't back down no. He said: "It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break."In a way he spared us that Ass' Tail that so many so often still try to pin on our city, to wit: failed levees=New Orleans. In doing so with such a quick and quiet implication he allowed our Reality to Speak for Itself. Every American saw our city Raped and Crucified. We aren't the only Americans getting flooded, but I knew right then Exactly to whom our new President referred and for whom his bell tolled. I'm tollin'yaz.Call me a fool but I t'ought that was pretty damn cool.Thank you,Editillaps~BTW your little "word verification thingy" this comment bears mention. I only do this when they come in close, impinge on my balloon so to speak...Today yer thingy sayz:--palingho--Well... been hurting fo'some Handmaiden's Tail, eh E?